1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for displaying letters, numbers or symbols, as well as an apparatus for setting said apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The attachment of letterings such as prices, descriptions, notes, technical specifications or the like to merchandise is of particular importance nowadays. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding and wish to be informed as precisely as possible about the products that they wish to purchase. Thus it is important for the consumer to obtain information for example about the exact price, the material and the technical data of the product on the one hand, and it offers the vendor or seller of the products the advantage on the other hand that the consumer feels well-informed for the moment without any additional advice having to be given.
It is therefore certainly common practice all over the world to provide the exhibited goods in a shop display or sales locations with price tags or other kinds of lettering. The consumer can thus determine in a very simple manner in passing whether the price/performance ratio concerning specific merchandise is grounds for purchasing the article or not.
The apparatuses generally used for displaying the price are usually small rails in which individual letters or numbers printed on small plates are inserted.
It is further also common practice to print price labels on paper and to attach the same to film disposed on the merchandise.
Small plastic cubes are also used where each cube contains a number, a letter or a symbol (currency symbol) and in this way the various different prices or other data can be composed.
The disadvantage of these apparatuses according to the state of the art is that the vendor of the goods who wishes to mark the same with prices or other data needs to go to the respective goods with a storage box of letters, numbers or symbols in order to compose the various prices laboriously from the individual parts. There is a high likelihood that a number of the individual parts have already been lost or that especially the number or letter which is necessary for the price or desired text to be composed is not present because all of these numbers/letters have already been used for other goods. Generally it can be said that the vendor must always ensure that a sufficient number of individual blocks with letters, numbers or symbols are available, as otherwise a marking of the goods with the desired price or text is not possible.
The use of printed price or information labels has the disadvantage that they need to be printed first, must then be transported to the respective goods and must be inserted there in a sleeve. If the price labeling is wrong, the wrong label can only be replaced after a renewed printout of the label, which might possibly occur at a different location. An additional factor is that any change in the price requires the discarding of the old price tag.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,110 an apparatus is known in which openings are disposed in a matrix-like manner in a base part, with movable members being held displaceably in said openings, with each movable member being displaceable from a first position in which a face side of the movable member is visible from a visible surface of the base part to a second position in which said face surface is substantially disposed in a non-visible way. Magnetic balls are used as movable members which can be conveyed by another magnet to the visible position. In order to arrest the balls in the visible position, additional holding means are disposed on the base part such as magnetic rails or edges or lips which project into the opening, which edges or lips act upon the ball and arrest the same in its position. In order to release this catch it is then necessary to press against the ball by means of a pin-like object for example in order to release the same from the catch. It is usually sufficient, however, to strongly shake the base part in order to move the balls again to their non-visible positions. The disadvantage in the apparatus as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,110 A is the fact that the introduction of the balls into the openings is relatively difficult due to the edges and lips which close off said openings. Moreover, these edges and lips are worn off relatively quickly, so that the arresting of the balls in their visible positions is no longer possible.
Apparatuses are further known from DE 1 623 800 A, GB 990 094 A, FR 1 465 490 or GB 2 317 490 A which work according to the same principle as U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,110. In these cases the actuation of the movable members occurs by means of current or a fluid. The use as a display means for price labels for example is thus not possible or only within limits because the drive system of the movable members impose limits concerning the miniaturization of such a display apparatus.